So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of
Israel
Or the Moabites were broken, as the Targum, that is, their forces
in the land of Israel; for the land of Moab itself was not
subdued and brought into subjection to the Israelites; but they
were so weakened by this stroke upon them, that they could not
detain the Israelites under their power any longer:
and the land had rest fourscore years;
eighty years, which, according to Ben Gersom, are to be reckoned
from the beginning of their servitude, and that the rest properly
was but sixty two years, and so both rest and servitude were
eighty years, as R. Isaiah; and, according to Abarbinel, the rest
was from the death of Othniel; and our Bishop Usher F15
reckons this eightieth year from the former rest restored to it
by Othniel; but others F16 are of opinion that there were
several judges at a time in several parts of the land, and that
the land was at rest in one part when there was war in another;
and so that at this time it was only the eastern part of the land
that had rest, while the western parts were distressed by the
Philistines, and the northern parts by Jabin king of Canaan, as
in ( Judges
3:31 ) ( 4:1 ) .